"US likely would have approved mergerSprint previously abandoned a bid for T-Mobile in 2014 when it became clear that the Obama administration would block the merger in order to preserve the competition created by having four major nationwide carriers. If the companies had struck a deal this year, they would have had a better chance of getting government approval under the Trump administration."

All this "will they, won't they" stuff gets tedious. But in the series finale, at the last minute, just as one or both is about to depart forever, some contrived circumstances and mushy scriptwriting will see them finally get together.

But they're both big amoral corporations, and they both want this merger - just on their own terms. The only argument was over who would be in charge.

So even if they say this is over forever, you can't trust anything a corporation says, and you could reasonably expect this to poke its zombie head up again in a couple years.

DT (Deutsche Telecom, not Donald Trump) does the Lucy holding the football trick all the time. Look at how many times they claimed to want to sell T-Mobile. It isn't like they are desperate to sell it. Make a stupidly generous offer and T-Mobile is yours!

Aw shucks! I was looking forward to having double the amount of bad wall penetration.

Clearly you haven't used T-Mobile since they upgraded in a lot of areas (or you haven't got a rollout for it or a device that uses it). I used to have an issue with building penetration with T-Mobile then they rolled out Band-12 and I had gotten a LG V10 around the same time. The difference with Band 12 (700 mhz spectrum) and a device that could use it was quite massive. I'd lose my signal in my office area (located in a finished basement) and when I got the V10 with T-mobile rolling out band 12 I had a strong signal and was able to not just get a strong signal, but a strong LTE signal.

But they're both big amoral corporations, and they both want this merger - just on their own terms. The only argument was over who would be in charge.

So even if they say this is over forever, you can't trust anything a corporation says, and you could reasonably expect this to poke its zombie head up again in a couple years.

Well leaving Sprint the in-charge company would ultimately of been nonsensical. Sprint has shown their rollout efforts to slow even with Softbank backing them hardcore and the loads of cash given to them. T-Mobile has been smart about what they have done and have gone to great lengths to roll out effectively (they still have work to do no doubt). The leadership differences and the like show quite readily between the two companies and T-Mobile being on top would make a lot more sense.

How about, you know, working together? Share resources. Each of you have less area covered than VZW (and probably AT&T) and each of you have different strengths. Leverage them together in a mutual partnership that improves both companies such that you each have a stronger position to counter VZW and AT&T's market position.

Remaining independent companies that can compete in other areas (like plans, pricing, etc) while sharing the really expensive parts of running a wireless telephony company would not only benefit the consumers you're trying to attract but each of you as well.

Why were they even talking if Softbank wasn't willing to give up control? T-mobile as a company is worth almost twice as much as Sprint. If I owned a part of that combined company, I certainly wouldn't want Marcelo Claure in control over John Legere.Under Marcelo Claure, Sprint's market cap has dropped by 30%. Under John Legere, T-mobile's market cap has tripled. Wanting to retain control in a market where you took a somewhat successful company and drove them into the ground is simply retarded.

"US likely would have approved mergerSprint previously abandoned a bid for T-Mobile in 2014 when it became clear that the Obama administration would block the merger in order to preserve the competition created by having four major nationwide carriers. If the companies had struck a deal this year, they would have had a better chance of getting government approval under the Trump administration."

How about, you know, working together? Share resources. Each of you have less area covered than VZW (and probably AT&T) and each of you have different strengths. Leverage them together in a mutual partnership that improves both companies such that you each have a stronger position to counter VZW and AT&T's market position.

Remaining independent companies that can compete in other areas (like plans, pricing, etc) while sharing the really expensive parts of running a wireless telephony company would not only benefit the consumers you're trying to attract but each of you as well.

Sprint really doesn't have any strengths compared to T-mobile. Their network is worse, their organization is worse, their spectrum holdings are worse. The only thing they actually have going for them is they will practically give iPhone's away via cheap lease programs, but attracting the little kids that can't be on their parents plan isn't a viable business plan.

Why were they even talking if Softbank wasn't willing to give up control? T-mobile as a company is worth almost twice as much as Sprint. If I owned a part of that combined company, I certainly wouldn't want Marcelo Claure in control over John Legere.Under Marcelo Claure, Sprint's market cap has dropped by 30%. Under John Legere, T-mobile's market cap has tripled. Wanting to retain control in a market where you took a somewhat successful company and drove them into the ground is simply retarded.

What? That entire comment is full of shit. Here's 10 seconds of fact checking:

Yea that looks like T-mobile is worth twice as much to me. Sprint has always been the bigger company unlike T-Mobile they have always has there own wireless network and spectrum while T-Mobile has piggy backed off of Verizon and AT&T instead up until this last year when they upped the bill on Legere which forced him to actually spend his own money for once.

Under Claure Sprint has had two years of growth and profit unlike the last 15 years under the idiot Hesse who did nearly kill the company.

Why were they even talking if Softbank wasn't willing to give up control? T-mobile as a company is worth almost twice as much as Sprint. If I owned a part of that combined company, I certainly wouldn't want Marcelo Claure in control over John Legere.Under Marcelo Claure, Sprint's market cap has dropped by 30%. Under John Legere, T-mobile's market cap has tripled. Wanting to retain control in a market where you took a somewhat successful company and drove them into the ground is simply retarded.

What? That entire comment is full of shit. Here's 10 seconds of fact checking:

Yea that looks like T-mobile is worth twice as much to me. Sprint has always been the bigger company unlike T-Mobile they have always has there own wireless network and spectrum while T-Mobile has piggy backed off of Verizon and AT&T instead up until this last year when they upped the bill on Legere which forced him to actually spend his own money for once.

Under Claure Sprint has had two years of growth and profit unlike the last 15 years under the idiot Hesse who did nearly kill the company.

Forgive me, I am speaking in terms of Market Cap, since this was supposedly a stock for stock deal. Sprint has a current market cap of $26.6 billion while T-mobile has a market cap of $49 billion. I understand their spectrum is worth quite a lot in theory (more than the entire company actually), but they likely couldn't sell it for anywhere near what its theoretical value is unless they spread out cannibalizing themselves over 10 years.If you need any other evidence of Sprint's lagging, just look at their wireless subscriber count. In Q1 2012 they had 8 million "wholesale subscribers", 15.2 million prepaid subscribers, and 32.8 million postpaid subscribers. In 2014 when Claure took over, those numbers were 9.95 million/15.2 million/29.9 million. Today, they are 16.13 million/12 million/31.6 million. They're within 5% of where they were 5 years ago in terms of customers. I won't mention T-mobile's growth because we all know about it.

"US likely would have approved mergerSprint previously abandoned a bid for T-Mobile in 2014 when it became clear that the Obama administration would block the merger in order to preserve the competition created by having four major nationwide carriers. If the companies had struck a deal this year, they would have had a better chance of getting government approval under the Trump administration."

Hmmm

THANKS OBAMA

hear that? thats the worlds smallest violin playing just to accompany your trumpette.

But they're both big amoral corporations, and they both want this merger - just on their own terms. The only argument was over who would be in charge.

So even if they say this is over forever, you can't trust anything a corporation says, and you could reasonably expect this to poke its zombie head up again in a couple years.

DT (Deutsche Telecom, not Donald Trump) does the Lucy holding the football trick all the time. Look at how many times they claimed to want to sell T-Mobile. It isn't like they are desperate to sell it. Make a stupidly generous offer and T-Mobile is yours!

There was a time when T-Mobile USA was a big drag on Deutsche Telekom. It had a really bad network. It was losing subscribers and money and DT didn't want to make the network investments that were necessary.

At that time T-Mobile USA was available for a song, but nobody wanted it.

Now, after Legere was brought in, T-Mobile USA is the single most successful business of Deutsche Telekom and drives most of their profits. And surprise, surprise, Deutsche Telekom is no longer so eager to get rid of it.

All this "will they, won't they" stuff gets tedious. But in the series finale, at the last minute, just as one or both is about to depart forever, some contrived circumstances and mushy scriptwriting will see them finally get together.

Must resist urge to binge watch Friends and every other 90's sitcom in my collection...

I completely understand why many people were less than enthused about this merger. But I fear this is the death knell for Sprint. I don't see them as competitive with the other three carriers. If the choices are T-Mobile merging/absorbing Sprint or Sprint dying a slow death, the former is probably the better the option.

Ideally, all four would be healthy and vigorously competing - but the reality is that Sprint is pretty much a goner.

I completely understand why many people were less than enthused about this merger. But I fear this is the death knell for Sprint. I don't see them as competitive with the other three carriers. If the choices are T-Mobile merging/absorbing Sprint or Sprint dying a slow death, the former is probably the better the option.

Ideally, all four would be healthy and vigorously competing - but the reality is that Sprint is pretty much a goner.

Maybe this is just my age showing, but both of these guys have always had a few things going against them:

1. In the CDMA days, it was the cheap alternative to Verizon - with all of the stigma that entails, weird MVNOs and all. Customers sign on because they can afford it, not because the service is good.

2. The WiMax distraction - Before LTE and its variants became the path forward, Sprint tried pushing this as a next-gen alternative and it never panned out. Money down the drain.

3. Being increasingly dependent on SoftBank to keep them afloat. Son probably doesn't care about the business itself - it's an investment and he wants to do well, but if I were him, I would be asking 'what are we getting for all of this effort?'

For T-Mobile, the problems are similar:

1. Weird GSM frequencies. Although they made the right choice overall, has AWS really helped in any meaningful way? A few years back, you might have expected TMo to have a bigger network, but due to this constraint, plus probably a lack of cash, they were behind Sprint.

2. Vis a Vis Softbank, why hasn't DT complained about all of the zero rated services that TMo seems to be all too eager to give away under Legere? Sure, the guy's got charisma, but it seems like he and Claure always are fighting for their jobs.

I fully expect at least one to depart if this deal ever does get done.

Why were they even talking if Softbank wasn't willing to give up control? T-mobile as a company is worth almost twice as much as Sprint. If I owned a part of that combined company, I certainly wouldn't want Marcelo Claure in control over John Legere.Under Marcelo Claure, Sprint's market cap has dropped by 30%. Under John Legere, T-mobile's market cap has tripled. Wanting to retain control in a market where you took a somewhat successful company and drove them into the ground is simply retarded.

Sprint has more spectrum than T-mo. In fact last time I checked they have the most in the US. Hopefully with this merger nonsense off the table they can improve their network.

I think if they would have combined all that money spent would have been redundant in the new combined network that won’t come. So hopefully this changes everything for the best for Sprint. Plus it wasn’t too long ago that T-mo was no. 4 and “useless outside downtown areas”. Unless something changes and fast T-mo won’t be able to expand 5G.

Why were they even talking if Softbank wasn't willing to give up control? T-mobile as a company is worth almost twice as much as Sprint. If I owned a part of that combined company, I certainly wouldn't want Marcelo Claure in control over John Legere.Under Marcelo Claure, Sprint's market cap has dropped by 30%. Under John Legere, T-mobile's market cap has tripled. Wanting to retain control in a market where you took a somewhat successful company and drove them into the ground is simply retarded.

Sprint has more spectrum than T-mo. In fact last time I checked they have the most in the US. Hopefully with this merger nonsense off the table they can improve their network.

I think if they would have combined all that money spent would have been redundant in the new combined network that won’t come. So hopefully this changes everything for the best for Sprint. Plus it wasn’t too long ago that T-mo was no. 4 and “useless outside downtown areas”. Unless something changes and fast T-mo won’t be able to expand 5G.

T-mobile in the last 2 years has acquired quite a lot of prime 600-800 Mhz spectra. They have bandwidth and they have building penetrating frequencies. T-mobile is not hurting in the ability to move into 5G territory. They're probably in a better position for it than Verizon or AT&T even since they have large amounts of unused spectrum from the 600 Mhz auction.